Sweet Tofu/Story
Fondness Story I. Brothers I have two brothers. One of them is, no matter how much I want to deny it, it’s that fool, Boston Lobster. The ever vibrant afternoon sun hanging in the sky, definitely makes it the best time to take an afternoon nap away from the searing light. Laying on the eaves of the house while in deep slumber, the wind suddenly brought on a rich and pungent fishy smell, like any person in deep sleep I instantly jolted awake. Once I had open my eyes, it was the fool in that deep shade of red. Seeing those wounds on him, he had likely gotten into a brawl, no wonder he looks so happy. I looked at the clearly injured Boston Lobster who still had the strength to draw back his lips and laugh domineeringly. Patiently and quietly, I slipped in some special ingredients that would no doubt have him scream and trash about in his vulnerary. I mixed up his medication and passed it on to Spicy Gluten who had decided to follow along Boston Lobster on his little stroll. Just as expected, without hesitation she quickly applied it onto his wounds. Observing her aggressively rub in the medication in his wounds for a rather extended period of time, it brought me enough joy to completely forget about the fact that I was rudely woken up from such a nice nap. "What did you do to the medicine! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! I’ll slaughter you!" Ignoring Boston Lobster who was crying out in excruciating pain, I turned away walking towards the sink, washing away the remnants of the ointment, making sure my hands were clean. Spicy Gluten, that rascal, who would have been spewing vulgarities by now, seemed to have had a complete change of personality, as she sauntered towards me. "Oh? Is it hurting?" Spicy Gluten seemed to have been unaffected by my provocation, instead this seemed to have brought her a small moment of satisfaction to relish in, as she glanced at me. "Today, on our stroll Boston and I seemed to have met a person that looked awfully similar to you." My fingertips ceased movement under the flowing water, as the deep shade of the ointment flowed off my fingers creating a blooming ripple that soon became the same color as the water,as I turned off the tap. Walking away from the sink, turning back I looked at Spicy Gluten, her face had radiated smugness. What did her words mean exactly? Continuing her tale, Spicy Gluten narrated her experience when Boston and her had met a man who looked similar to me, and that was when, it hit me. Like two peas in a pod, we shared the same appearance, even our vibrant optics were nearly identical. We dressed the same, to the extent of fooling Boston Lobster where he didn’t hesitate to lower his guard, to greet me. "Sweet Tofu! It’s been awhile since you’ve left your place for a stroll! Don’t you always stay at home all day cooped up in your room, listening to that...uh...ah yes that rock music!" Boston Lobster had nonchalantly swung his hand over my shoulder, suddenly realizing that it was not me. Looking at how battered Boston was, that was when I realized, it was definitely him, my short-tempered, bad-blooded brother, which had such an apathetic relationship with me, to the extent of simply hearing my name would drive him up the wall. Ah, all mine, my adorable and cute baby brother, just born a few seconds later than me, my twin brother. II. Memorial Ceremony It’s that time again, at the edge of the border, traveling to that small town, just like in the past, it was as isolated as ever. Advancing to the mountain side, with the shade from the shadows covering up an ever forlorn looking gravestone. The grave was built in such a crude and simple way, small stones stacked up to act as the grave mound, not far away moss grew in such a disorderly fashion, which made it seem as if it was in desolation. The gravestone stands there upon the top of the mountainside overshadowed by a tall tree. Under the shadows, sits a familiar and bittersweet silhouette. The unmoving silhouette sits in silence, he seemed to be paying his respects to the person under that grave. "Hehe, my dear brother, it really is you, it’s been awhile. I took care and loved you to no end, yet you ignore and run away from me, that makes big brother very upset." That boy that had been sitting under the shade near the grave, disdainfully turned his head to look at me, hurling the freshly picked wild flowers at me from his hands. "Who is your dear brother? If you really did come here without an ulterior motive, heh, I congratulate you." Just looking at his same old proud attitude just like when he was younger, that same attitude that screamed he was superior to everyone else, unconsciously, it made me feel a sense of relief and joy. Just thinking of this place again, I couldn’t bear the urge to caress my cheek. Wait, these thoughts...have I really...become...older? Shaking my head, trying to remove those unruly thoughts out of my head, yet it seemed futile I couldn’t help but smile at this person, whom I hadn’t seen for so long. "What are you smiling at? Have you finally come to your senses to become my toy? Mr Sweet Tofu, the kingdom’s most notorious serial killer?" Wrinkling his eyebrows, I expected Salty Tofu to raise his fist upon me, trying to hit me. However who knew, his face became cold and calm, looking as if he was taunting me. "Today isn’t the day to find out who wins or lose, I’ll see you next time. I’ll make sure you become my toy, just like that, I’m sure that old man would be elated to witness it." That’s right, this is the day day, this 「Serial Killer」will always remember. There is also no reason for that madman, whom Salty Tofu and I regarded as a father to forget this day as well. Therefore, today is the only day, this special day through an entire year, whenever we meet on this day, we could never breakout into a fight nor argument. III. Apology Once we left the royal capital, it didn’t take us long to find out that our Master Attendant had seemingly changed drastically. He still wore that regular chef attire. His body clad in a clean and tidy chef attire, wearing a tall chef hat that connoted his skills as a master chef. However, now his body seemed to constantly emit a rusty and tangy scent, which was very hard to dispel and ignore. I had a keen sense of smell. Even if I hadn’t come into contact with many humans, it took me awhile to confirm my suspicions, that metallic and lingering smell on that chef, it was no doubt that of a human, a humans blood, the liquid flowing in them, the essence of life. I was in confusion for a long time, our Master Attendant who would always be in the kitchen with his pots and pans, slicing up all kinds of vegetable, making it seem as if it was no sweat, that servant whose face would always radiate sunshine, with that silly smile on his face. Why is the smell of blood all over him? It was as if he was hooked in and swallowed whole by that rusty scent. Our Attendant followed the instructions of his patrons to cook his meals, anything he cooked, it always turned out to be delicious, it was reckoned as the best of the best. Although, no matter how sumptuous a meal may be, it is impossible to cater to the taste of all. It was said that the Northern cuisine he had prepared here, in the South, in this small town had received many negative critiques from his customers.The Northern cuisine was simply not up to par with what he could normally cook up. I could easily see when the customers were discontented as it was clearly written on their faces, Attendant’s face could be seen slowly contorting into one of rage, resisting his urge to use violence to resolve the issue, hands hidden behind his back trembling. Seeing how fast his mood would swing, from something kind and cheerful to one that was dripping with menace was, definitely, horrible. So, if patrons were to cause trouble in his restaurant or spread false rumors hoping to win a free meal, well, for most of them the chef would invite them into a box, a box, that would never see the light of day ever again. Sending them away with his special apology. Once he has apologized to his dear patrons, his personality would return back to that former gentle and affable Attendant. At first I never knew what his so called apology was. I only thought, how wonderful it was that so called apology could bring back our friendly chef from the grips of madness. I only found out what it was when I was out in the wilderness, when a fallen angel had decided to ambush me. While trying to defend myself, he saw me use my specially handmade drug to protect myself. From then on, under his arrangements, when he had needed to apologize to another patron, he would ask me to add my drug into his apology. I knew it deep inside that it was wrong, however if I were to somehow disobey his orders, I knew that the drug I made for him to safeguard himself, a drug poisonous to Food Souls, would somehow end up being eaten by my stupid brother, mistaking it for a nice midnight snack. IV. Father As Food Souls, me and my brother had never understood the meaning or found out what was a ‘Father’. But, before he had started to commit those atrocities, maybe that was who or what a ‘Father’ was. He would smile at us, that smile was as bright as the sun. He would put us back to sleep when we were awake at ungodly hours at night, troubling thoughts irritating us. He would burst out laughing in joy, when the restless us would be performing, rock and rolling with our instruments. He would slowly and finely prepare mouthwatering midnight meals… Both of us had imagined and thought about it, we would stay with this old man until the end of his road. When it was time to go, we could inherit his restaurant, or perhaps once we had finish settling down and moved on we could go traveling. However, both of us had never expected this outcome. For the former warm-hearted chef that we cherished so dearly, had suddenly become something different once failure had hit him. Maybe that kind and bright personality, was just a disguise for what was truly hidden underneath. More and more patrons were disappearing from the restaurant never to return again, it used to be just an occasional apology, yet it was slowly but surely becoming more and more frequent. The Kingdom had started to take notice of this small and isolated town, he was no longer ignored. More and more people clad in a typical villager’s attire were pacing around the restaurant, the amount grew day by day. I had already knew it, this secret would never have been that easy to cover up, actually, this was already happening right under everyone’s noses, right under the bright sun that shone through the Kingdom. On that day, I had planned to wake him up from his slumber so he and the two of us could leave this place. Me and my brother had the power and strength to protect him so he could escape. Even after all those atrocities, even when he had threatened me using my younger brother. No matter what, he was the only one besides my brother to have had been important to me. By that time that early bird would have been asleep by now, yet he was not in his bedroom. Instead, he was in the kitchen, where the lights were turned on, illuminating the area. Lights illuminating through the windows, in the kitchen, the silhouette of him that brought us so much comfort and warmth, just like everytime he was in there, I wondered what was he doing. Me and my brothers bowls were filled to the rim with delicious food and our utensils all laid out, the food, honestly had such a wonderful aroma. He carefully wiped at the edges of our bowls, applying that colorless and tasteless drug I had carefully made for him, right. Into. Our. Food. And in that moment, I realized, all our feelings, was, simply just me and my brothers wistful thinking; like a dream that would never come true. Had it not be for our plan that night, we would have had become his next victims, better yet, becoming mere scapegoats to his murdering spree. After all, compared to aliens, it would be easier for humans to trust one of their own kind. I went back to my room, the dawn of daylight seeping into the sky, the light finally shone upon the plain and obvious fact hidden in the darkness of that night. No one would ever know, but, how I wished, if I were to blink and open my eyes again, how I desperately wished for it to be nothing but a bad dream. Looking at my brother who was rubbing his eyes after waking up, ridiculing his face which angered him. I proceeded to tell him about a special ingredient that could enhance the taste and color to any dish, said ingredient was not faraway in this small town. The was the ingredient that our Master Attendant had constantly talked and praised vehemently about. Just as expected, my silly brother proceeded to nag about how annoying it was for him to find it himself, leaving the house to search for that special ingredient. No matter how nonexistent it is, I hope he takes his time. Now then, I better hurry up, time to clear away all these trivial matters before my brother returns. V. Sweet Tofu A long, long time ago in the an old Kingdom, there lived a prestigious and famous chef and Master Attendant. He was great at preparing a variety of meals, his strong point was definitely preparing cuisines of the South, the land where he was born and raised. The well revered and loved man, had somehow managed to lose in an decadal cooking competition to an amateur dark horse. The reason was simple, the judge had preferred trying new things, hence the Northern cuisine cooked up by the amateur had tingled his taste buds. But Sweet Tofu knew, the reason his Master Attendant had lost was not because of his dish, it was those gold coins that had been sent to the households of the judges. Because of his loss, he had received much jeers and taunts from the others, the chef had ultimately decided to leave the Royal Capital, an aura of desolation surrounding him. It did not take long, nearing the borders of the kingdom, appeared a strange man who was a Master Attendant, he had an apt for cooking and was an excellent cook. He had clearly stayed in the most Northern part of the Kingdom, yet he was only willing to cook up Southern cuisines. Along with this, the Attendant had brought along two peculiar and uncanny looking twins along with him, many rumors were spread about both the Attendant and his two Food Souls. Difficult patrons had seemed to disappear one by one, the Kingdom slowly started to notice this and pinpointed their suspicions on the small town located on the Northern most border. After days of thorough investigation, the King’s soldiers had ended up breaking into the small restaurant in that small town, only to find Sweet Tofu sitting on one of the tables smiling at them deviously. Under the setting sun, the boy with black and white hair approached the soldiers,smile growing ever wider. His hand had held a knife, his Attendant quietly standing behind him in the shadows. The story had went that the poor chef was panic-stricken after seeing so many soldiers, and just like a switch had turned off, he went mad picking up his knife, rushing towards the soldiers slicing and dicing. Another one went that he had argued with a soldier, and the knife in his hands had accidentally went right into his chest. In the end, the truth was still exposed, the freezer in the restaurant, had been hiding a great deal of corpses. Sweet Tofu had remembered every single one of his victims, including this current one, the corpse of his beloved Attendant, because he was the one who had killed them all. After all it was an obvious ⌈fact⌉. (That Sweet Tofu killed his MA) Nobody knew why the chef had chose to met his end by running into a soldiers blade, only Sweet Tofu knew. "So you’re saying, all of it was for your beloved brother? Making up a such an elaborate tale, so you could take all the blame for your Attendant’s actions?" Boston Lobster leaned his injured leg on one of the tables,elbows resting on it, fingers twiddling around his chin, eyebrows scrunched up in amusement. "Heh, I never saw you as the ‘motherly’ type." Sweet Tofu, who was helping Boston prepare his medication, walked towards his medicine cabinet, a devious smile plastered on his face as he grabbed another handful of lotus seeds and tossed it right into the concoction he was cooking up. Boston’s eyes lit up. "Hey! This is revenge isn’t it! Revenge for me being naked!" "Hehe not in the slightest, eat more lotus seeds, it’ll stop the inflammation,it’s go-od for you~" Category:Food Soul Story